New cook book

I picked this little gem up for Trev yesterday! I can't wait till he makes me the blueberry waffles!!!

Guys, I'm so bored with this blog challenge. I'm totes over it.

[24] Something you've learned

[23] Favorite movie

I've mentioned this once before in this blog challenge, but Gone With the Wind is my favorite movie. I watch it when I'm sad, happy, bored, whatevs. Its one of the best movie of all time, and if you haven't seen it, watch it! I know it's long, but come the end, you'll wish it was longer.

[22] Original picture of your city

This is a picture I took while I was driving around at 3 or 4 am right after I just bought my first car when I was 17.

[21] Favorite picture of you of all time

Idk if I'd say this is my favorite picture of me, but it was a picture of me on a really great day. My dad had to go out to Las Vegas to help his friend move and was really, really sad that he couldn't be here for Father's Day, so we flew out and surprised him. We got a room at the Monte Carlo and we went swimming and took him to dinner and just had a nice little mini-vacation in Vegas with him.

[20] Nicknames

I have quite a few nicknames. My favorite nickname that I've recently acquired is Al. [Even Trev calls me Al and I think its so cute!] More nicknames include: Alex D, Diddy, Ali, DD, Alex Dece, Sweet D, Alice.. I can't really think of any more right now but, there ya go.

blog challenge

hey guys, im blogging from my phone to let you know my computer is down and out. idk how but, i got a virus on it and its not working at all. im hopefully getting it fixed today, in which case ill make up all the challenge days i missed and let you know about my kanab trip.

[19] Something you miss

Preface: I said I'd be as honest as I can be in my blog challenge so here is something I've missed for a while now and I feel like I need to confront. Its a very sensitive subject for me to talk about and think about but I think I'll do alright:

Those of you who know me really well know that I was once attached at the hip with my then BFF. We grew up together, meeting on our 5th grade soccer team and continuing our friendship from Jr. High onward. My family and her family were and are still very close and there is a huge chunk of my life that I can't remember a time that she wasn't right there with me. Needless to say, I never saw a life where I didn't call her my friend. Unfortunately, that changed after a night of drunken mistakes on both of our parts and things got out of hand. We are no longer friends and I haven't seen her since January 8th, 2010. Something I miss is the friendship that we had. I don't think there is anyone that knew me as well as she did and it was so easy to be her friend because we were so much alike. We had our first loves together, we had our first heartbreaks together, we went vegan together, we both got arrested for the first time together [nothing to brag about, I know] regardless... we did everything together, as I said before; attached at the hip. We also had a lot of tiffs, we had a lot of arguments, we had a lot of distrust, we had a lot of negative things about our relationship but what can I say? She wasn't the best friend, but she was mine, and I loved her.



I have learned to appreciate what we had and realized that I made a mistake and now continue to move on with my life. I don't see a day in my future that I don't think back on my life and remember her and how much we grew together, but I do know that my life now is amazing because of what I learned from what happened between us. And who knows, maybe one day we won't be so distant, but I can't really say anything more about that. I have incredible friends in my life now that I love, cherish and hold onto with everything, and I have an amazing boyfriend that supports me and comforts me when I get sad about the past. Although our 'falling out' [if you can call it that] happened over a year ago, its hard to think about the person I was then, and how much I let my ego take control of what mattered most to me, not just my friendships with a few people but a lot of other things as well. I can't spend time regretting what happened or who I was then so I don't. But I am happy with who I am today and I continue my life without negativity, without holding grudges and without repeating past mistakes.

[18] Favorite place to eat

This is a really hard question to answer, as I've eaten at lots of places, all over.

I would say my favorite place to eat in Salt Lake is either Himalayan Kitchen or Sages Cafe. They both have a romantic flair to them and HK has a lot of vegan options and Sages is all vegan. I love Indian food a lot, and I also love breakfast food so it had to be a toss up.





As for other places, I love Herbivore in San Francisco. I prefer the one on Divisadero but they are both the same.




But I think my favorite place I've ever eaten EVER, is WaterCourse in Denver. That might be because I've only eaten there once and am not burned out on it like everything else, but when I went there in October last year, it was incredible. Deelish!



Some other really great restaurants that I've been to are Veganopolis in Portland, [I really want to go to El Diablo in Portland, I hear they have great food and its a strip club!] Red Velvet Cafe in Las Vegas is really awesome and I've also only eaten there once, but I certainly plan on going back, Hummos Bros in London, England, I love Bakers in California which is a fast food place but they have vegan options like Tacos and Taco burgers, Le Grenier de Notre Dame in Paris, France

Those are all the places I can think of that I absolutely loved. Hopefully by the end of this year I will have eaten and lots of other places and add them to my list

Happy St Patrick's Day!

[17] Something you're looking forward to

I have a lot to look forward to this year, but the thing I'm most excited for is Trev and I getting a puppy. I have wanted a dog soooo bad for the last 5 years. Its been hard. So Trev said that our next apartment is going to be a house with a yard and we can get a puppy. We agreed on a Boxer. I am so excited to hug his little face off!!!

[16] Dream house

I don't really know how to explain my dream house. I don't want a giant crazy ridiculous beach house at all. I definitely want to live in a place where it snows at least 4 months out of the year, but also has warm summers. I prefer city over country or tropics, I just love the busy life. I want it to be big, but not so big that I can't find anything. I love older-looking fixtures, and lots of windows. I don't have a real girly flare, I like things simple. Here's some pictures I found that are very similar to what I would want the interior to look like:

Bedroom:


Bathroom

Livingroom:
Kitchen:
[Idk why but I've always had an obsession with yellow kitchens]

[15] Bible Verse

So, when I saw this question on the 30 day challenge, I got a little weird because I am not a christian. I am not religiously spiritual at all really, so I thought I'd replace this question with one I felt more compelled to answer. But recently, I got into a discussion about religion and vegetarianism so I thought I'd use this bible verse for my blog today:

Genesus 1:29 [New American Standard Bible]
Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;

Genesus 1:29 [King James Bible]
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.





Source

More vegetarian bible info:
JesusVeg
Vegetarianism in the bible

Horrible Dream

I had one of the worst dreams I have ever had in my life last night. I woke up hysterically crying. I won't say what the dream was about but as soon as Trev heard me crying he grabbed my body like I weighed 5 pounds and hugged me explaining it was just a dream. After I had calmed down he asked if I wanted to talk about it, so I told him what happened in the dream and he told me everything would be ok.



This is how I know that I am so completely in love with you Trev. Thanks for comforting and being there for me darling.

[14] A picture of you last year- how have you changed?

A lot in my life has changed since last year. I am in a place of maturity I never thought I'd be. I have lost a few really good friends and gained a few really good friends. I have learned so much about letting go of grudges, being drama-free, valuing the things I have in life instead of wanting more, loving myself, financial responsibility, the importance of being employed, not taking things for granted and not holding onto things as if I'll always have them.

I feel like 100% a different person than when this picture was taken, and I can say I am so much more happy now than I have ever been. There are still many things I have left to learn but I can tell you now, that my mind is opened to growing up and taking on responsibility.

[13] Goals

So, yesterday I didn't blog because I had a busy day and when I got home I just really didn't feel like it. So I guess I'll blog something twice today..


I try to set high goals for myself, but recently I haven't really thought about what I want for my future. Here are some simple, short term, ones that I wrote about 2 months ago. There were a few more but I have already reached them.

I want to take sporadic, luxurious vacations with my boyfriend as often as possible


I want to get back to working out 5 times a week


I want to finish all of the tattoos I've started
[Just finished my arm and I have 1 more left to finish!!]

I want to read 2 books a month


I want to start playing my guitar more often
Since moving in with TP I have neglected it a bit

I am sure there are more, I am having a hard time thinking about them.

[12] Something you don't leave home without

I never leave home without my cell phone, and if I do.. I always go back and get it. I have this lame G1, but I want to get the Droid X so bad!

[11] Favorite TV shows

IDK when this 30 day blog challenge got so dull, maybe I'll start making up my own questions.. ha

My favorite TV shows are so random. I've been trying to read more and watch less TV, which so far I'm succeeding in, but my favorite shows are:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia


Planet Earth

Parks and Recreation

Employed!

Finally, I've done it! I got a job at a restaurant in the airport. I'm so excited, especially because its in the airport. I worked for SkyWest/Delta for around a year and it was my favorite job because its in the airport. I can't wait to start making money. As soon as I find the groove of serving and progress to the point where I'm making more money than I ever have [if that happens] I will be able to do most of anything I've wanted to do my whole life. Haircut, shopping and I start on Tuesday!

[10] Something you're afraid of

Terrified.


So, I mentioned this in my first post of the blog challenge; but I'll elaborate a little bit more, just to give you a relative idea of how much I really am scared of Sharks.

While searching for this picture, I got watery eyed, and had to look away from the photos for a little bit. I am so terrified of sharks.. I don't swim in swimming pools with my eyes closed, I can't watch underwater documentary's because I get short of breath and start panicking. Its weird because I wasn't always afraid of sharks.. I've never seen jaws, or any movie with sharks that I can think of.. They just all of a sudden started freaking me out.

[9] Your favorite picture of your best friend

Emily
Victoria

Brandi

Forgive me for not writing anything in this post.. I'm feelin a little... weird today. But these gals are my bffs

[8] A place you have traveled to:

When I was 19, I went to Paris with a friend I worked with. After the first day, he decided that Paris wasn't a place that he wanted to be and left. So, I hung out in Paris solo for 10 days. It's probably the best vacation I've ever been on. I loved everything about that city. I had a friend that had a friend that lived in Paris, and I met up with him a few of the nights and I got to see the non-tourist side of paris. We went to a few night clubs and went to this bar called the Shabeen where I met a few European famous people. I also was able to go see one of my favorite bands at the time 'The View' at a really awesome venue that reminded me of a less beat-up Kilby Court. A few things I regret not doing while was there was going inside of the Louvre, seeing Versailles, and not researching what days The Catacombs were open [I saved it for the last day, and it was closed]

BUT, I do have the opportunity this April to go to Paris with my boyfriend and then take a train to Germany to meet up with his tattoo shop who are tattooing in the Frankfort tattoo convention. I just need to save up the money to go. So.. hopefully I get a job soon and am able to go.


You can see more pictures of my Paris trip here

Finished!

I finished this yesterday. It was so so hard to get into but once I hit the 17th chapter it was pretty easy to hold my interest. Its not at all what I was expecting and it was actually pretty suspenseful. There were some steamy moments in it, which surprised me as well. I didn't hate reading this book, but I didn't absolutely love it either.

I can't wait until Brandi's birthday. We're having a party at my house with this book's theme and then going to see the movie. Its going to be great, I have so many ideas that I'm dying to start on.

[7] What are your favorite movies?

I always such a difficult time answering this question. I love watching movies and I have too many favorites, so here are a few that I can think of off the top of my head: [without including obvious favorites like Star Wars and Harry Potter]

Gone with the Wind
Everything is Illuminated
Pride and Prejudice


An Education

Amelie

You Can Count on Me


Thats all I can really think of right now, but I know I'll be thinking about this all day so I'll probably add more as the day goes on.

[6] A picture of something that makes you happy:

Guys. If you know me, you know I love shoes. I live, love and breathe shoes. I wear heels everywhere, and that's no exaggeration. Malls, family parties, grocery stores, movies etc. Literally everywhere. The thing that makes me happiest [and this is a serious toss up with buying new nail polish] is buying a new pair of shoes.

[5] A song to match your mood:

I had to pick "Yours to keep" by Paola. This song reminds me of sweet summertime, driving around with friends, wearing dresses, riding bikes, jumping off cliffs into water, vacations, love, bikinis, high heels & shorts, outdoor movies, ice cream cones etc. I am so pumped for summer and this song just compliments the feeling.

Reverse Manicure!

So, I've been wanting to do this for so long but never really had the time/patients until today. Here's how I did it:





I did a base coat of "Lets Plie" Sephora by OPI

















I read that page reinforcement stickers are the best to use for this, but the only stickers I have in the house are these rose ones



















So I cut them in little half circles and put them on my nails like this

















Then painted the top "Black Onyx" OPI















I let them dry before pulling the stickers off, did a few touch ups and added a clear top coat.













I love it, and I've been obsessed with this look for so long and I'm so glad I sat down and made myself do this! Its super fast and super easy!

[4] Your parents:

My Father, Bryan:

I am a daddy's girl through and through. He has always given me perspective and taught me how to think outside of myself [even though I still sometimes don't] I can talk to him about anything. He has been through so much in his life that sometimes I look back and barely understand how he was able to be such an incredible parent, while the things that happened where happening. He has the largest heart I've ever seen in anyone and I just hope that I inherited his strength and love for people. I feel like I don't have the words to describe how amazing of a person he is. He is not judgmental, he doesn't overly criticize me and he's probably the funniest person I know. I have learned so much from my dad, and I definitely would not be the person I am today without him to level my head out and help me through life's roughest moments. I have a tattoo for him of a purple dahlia [his favorite flower that grows in his backyard] in the elbow ditch on my left arm. He's the best.

My mother, Samantha:


My mom and I haven't always been the closest, but after the past 5 years or so she's become one of my best friends and my hero. My mom is such an incredible lady. She has accomplished so much in her life and I hope to have that ambition as I grow older. I talk to her about everything, her and I share the same love for coffee, gossip and planning trips. I sometimes feel like I wish I could do more for her because she's done so much for me. [one day mom] I am really happy that I have such a positive female influence in my life to light a fire under my ass when I'm feeling down. I can't begin to explain how many hard times my mom has helped me through and I'm finally in a place of my life where I can feel like an adult and someone that she can be proud of.

My Stepdad, Matt:

So, I know that he's not my birth parent, but I care about him like a parent. He has contributed a lot of insight and advice on my life that I needed. I remember one time when I was having a really bad week/month of breakdowns and could not shake the sadness and the disappointment in myself and he wrote me a note and left it on the counter [at the time I was living with him and my mom] and it was a letter of serious encouragement. It meant so much to me, and I have to admit, I still keep it in my wallet and look at it when I feel sad. He's a really great man and I'm so happy for my mom that she has found someone who has such a tremendous heart and cares so much about her and her family.



Over all, I feel like I am truly blessed with parental influence. I can't imagine who I would be with any other parents and I am grateful that they are here for me to encourage, inspire and sometimes push me to where I didn't think I could go.